Community Choice voting will be open Oct 1 – Oct 15. We will announce the winners at our Annual Owner Meeting on Oct 26.

Each year, a staff-led grant committee takes great care to evaluate all applications and determining the following years’ SEED recipients. The committee also nominates eight organizations to be considered by community members, all of which will receive a $1,000 grant through the Seward Community Fund, whether or not they are ultimately selected as a SEED recipient. The top four winners of those organizations become Community Choice SEED recipients.

In 2027 there will be eight SEED recipients, four of which have been selected by a Seward Co-op staff-led committee, and four which will be selected by our community through a Community Choice vote. Four months will be dedicated to Seward Co-op’s needs-based program, which assists households with financial need purchase their groceries. These four months will be spread out over the course of the year.

Learn about the Community Choice finalists below, and cast your vote for your top four organizations by Thursday, Oct 15. Then, join us at our Annual Owner Meeting on Monday, Oct. 26 as we announce the 2027 grant recipients, including the results of the SEED Community Choice vote and Board of Directors Election.

Community Choice SEED Candidate Organizations

Below are short descriptions of the eight SEED organizations nominated by staff for consideration by community members, listed in alphabetical order. You can learn more about each by clicking on the name of the organization. A new window will open to the organization’s website.

Division of Indian Work

Division of Indian Work supports and strengthens urban American Indian people through culturally-based education, traditional healing approaches, and leadership development.

SEED funds would allow DIW to expand Indigenous Food Share CSA baskets to our Maternal Health programs,  which including expecting mothers, individuals with specific dietary needs, and families for to provide traditional Indigenous foods.

Dream of Wild Health

Dream of Wild Health works to restore health and wellbeing within the Twin Cities Native American community.

SEED funds will provide culturally-based lessons for Native youth to learn about regenerative organic gardening, healthy foods preparation and nutrition, and Native cultural traditions while gaining employment and leadership skills.

Freshwater Society

Freshwater Society works with communities across Minnesota to advance clean water, climate resilience, and environmental stewardship through science, education, policy, and community partnerships.

SEED funds would support Freshwater’s Minnesota Water Stewards program, a community education and engagement initiative that helps connect residents to clean water, watershed health, and sustainable environmental practices.

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota provides high-quality legal services to low-income immigrants and refugees, helping them secure legal status, reunite with family, and build safe, stable futures in our communities.

SEED funds will support free legal services and community outreach for immigrants and refugees in Minnesota, including legal help with removal defense, work permits, green cards, and citizenship.

Little Earth Residents Association

The Little Earth Urban Farm provides land-based teachings to 50 Native youth interns each season. These young people grow, harvest, and distribute free produce to the community, and are the backbone of Little Earth’s food security efforts.

SEED funds will provide stipends for ten of their youngest farm interns to purchase new school clothes and supplies. Funds will also support teens’ targeted distribution efforts to deliver free CSA crop boxes with recipes to Little Earth families most in need.

Sexual Violence Center

Sexual Violence Center provides free, confidential advocacy, counseling, crisis response, and systems-change work for survivors of sexual violence.

SEED funds will be used to sustain direct survivor services, expand outreach, and strengthen community response so survivors can access safety, healing, and support.

Walk-In Counseling Center
Walk-In Counseling Center’s all-volunteer clinic staff provides free, no-appointment, anonymous mental health and crisis counseling services to all comers each weekday during clinic hours, in person and virtually.

Walk-In has obtained a major grant to launch a project to improve new counselors’ access to the supervision they need to become licensed practitioners — addressing a crisis in the mental health professional pipeline that is reducing the workforce’s numbers and diversity. SEED funds would be used for marketing and website support for this program, ensuring that they can reach potential participants through multiple channels.

Way To Grow
Way to Grow supports whole-family health and success from pregnancy through third grade by stabilizing households, strengthening early learning, connecting families to culturally relevant resources, and fostering community, health and wellness.

SEED funds will expand Way to Grow’s bilingual nutrition and cooking classes and more reach to families who lost federal nutrition support when SNAP-Ed funding was cut.